Intentions to Marry, 1885

Reference: Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Notices of intention to marry, Series 8937, R2840397, Archives New Zealand Te Rua Mahara o te Kāwanatanga, Wellington

Imaged by Carole at Archives NZ Wellington, April 30 2025

Page 555

District of Christchurch Quarter ending 30 September 1885

No	Date of Notice	Names and Surnames of Parties	BDM Match	Condition	Calling or Profession	Age	Dwelling Place	Length of Residence	Marriage Place	Folio	Consent	Date of Certificate	Officiating Minister
232	6 July 1885	William Knauley Louise Douglas	William Bramley Louisa Douglas 💍 1885/2323	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	28 24	Christchurch Christchurch	4 days 7 years	Paparua Church	85/2470	X	6 July 1885	Revd. G. S. Home, Church of England
233	6 July 1885	John Curry Adelaide Keeffe	John Curry Adelia O'Keeffe 💍 1885/2380	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman Servant	27 22	Christchurch Christchurch	10 years 18 years	Registrars Office	85/2491	X	6 July 1885	J. Malkerson
234	7 July 1885	John Furnan Winifred Flight	John Furman Winifred Flyht 💍 1885/2467	Widower Widow	Cook Nurse	35 46	Christchurch Christchurch	18 years 25 years	House of W. Lewenden, Worcester Street	85/2520	X	7 July 1885	Revd. C. Dallaston, Baptist
235	7 July 1885	James Rogers Annie Jones	Samuel Rogers Annie Jones 💍 1885/2400	Bachelor Spinster	Butcher Servant	32 21	Christchurch Christchurch	5 years 4 years	Registrars Office	85/2488	X	7 July 1885	J. Malkerson
236	7 July 1885	Anthony Jeffs Susan McPlay	Anthony Sepie Susan McCloy 💍 1885/2686	Bachelor Spinster	Miller Servant	31 30	Christchurch Christchurch	7 years 7 years	Roman Catholic Church	85/2854	X	7 July 1885	Revd. L. Guerty, Roman Catholic
237	8 July 1885	Tom Checkley Annie Lucretia Davis	Tom Checkley Annie Lucretia Davis 💍 1885/2466	Bachelor Spinster	Farmer	31 25	Christchurch Christchurch	3 days 5 years	House of Josiah Davis, Worcester Street	85/2519	X	8 July 1885	Revd. C. Dallaston, Baptist
238	9 July 1885	Stewart McIntyre Mary Scott	Stewart McIntyre McEwan Mary Scott 💍 1885/2379	Bachelor Spinster	Fireman	28 28	Christchurch Christchurch	14 months 2 years	Registrars Office	85/2490	X	9 July 1885	J. Malkerson
239	11 July 1885	Alexander Dalziel Jane Charter	Alexander Phillips Jane Walker 💍 1886/976 Alexander Lamont Wylie Jane Clarke 💍 1886/1012 Alexander Cassie Jane Farquharson 💍 1886/1037	Bachelor Widow	Labourer Servant	27 27	Lincoln Lincoln	9 months 8 months	Registrars Office	Not married, see previous return	X	11 July 1885	J. Malkerson
240	13 July 1885	James Darnell Eliza James	James Darnell Eliza James 💍 1885/2381	Bachelor Spinster	Master Mariner	25 24	Christchurch Christchurch	1 week 6 weeks	Registrars Office	85/2492	X	13 July 1885	J. Malkerson

These records have been automatically transcribed and must be verified using the page image (below)

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What is an Intention to Marry?

The 1854 Marriage Act required Pakeha settlers (and later Maori) to register their intention to marry from 1855. The resulting Notices of intention to marry were sent by the district registrars to the Registrar-General of Births, Deaths and Marriages and bound into large volumes, each containing a year of notices. These registers were eventually deposited with Archives New Zealand.

What information does an ItM record?

A typical Intention to Marry notice records:

the bride and groom's full names
occupation of the groom (and sometimes the bride)
their ages
district where the marriage would take place
how long they had resided in the district
Where the marriage would take place (eg, a specific church)
Who would officiate the marriage (eg, a minister)
The date of the notice and also a date when the certificate was issued. Marriages had to take place within 3 months, and usually occurred within a week or so of the certificate date.
If one of the parties was under 21, a parent who consented to their marriage was usually specified

These details can provide clues for genealogical and historical research. Knowing the date and district makes it easier to look for wedding notices in Papers Past, and the amount of time that the parties had resided in a district can offer clues to whether a person was born in NZ, or when they immigrated.

However, finding individual records in the Intentions to Marry registers was typically a slow and manual process, usually requiring an in-person visit to Archives NZ's Wellington office (during limited opening hours) and using a handwritten card catalogue index to look up individual names.

Eight years of the registers had been digitised by Archives NZ prior to 2024, but even these digital versions required the use of a manual index and usually examining several pages to locate specific records.

What is the Intentions to Marry Project?

This project aims to transcribe the New Zealand Intentions to Marry registers (from 1855 to 1925) with the assistance of new technology (AI), making the records freely available and easily searchable.

The ITM records have also been cross-referenced with the registered marriages at DIA Births, Deaths and Marriages, where possible (a small fraction of the recorded intentions to marry did not become a registered marriage).

Currently we have almost all records between 1855 and 1894. More registers will be added as the project continues.

The project is led by Luke Howison, a web developer who made the free genealogical research search tool NZ Ancestor Search Helper and Archway-style Collections Search. There are also some wonderful volunteers assisting with digitising the registers.

Can I volunteer to help?

Yes, you can! You can sign up to correct errors in the transcribed records and match ITMs with registered marriages.

I am also looking for Wellington-based volunteers to help me digitise more years of the registers. I can provide lighting equipment and a 'clicker' (to trigger your phone's camera).

How is the transcription done?

There are several steps to digitising and transcribing the records:

Digitising the registers (taking clean, straight, high-quality photos)
Processing the digitised pages by straightening, cropping and sharpening the images
Transcribing each page with a combination of AI tools
Matching each ITM with a registered marriage when possible
Human verification of the transcribed information

The main LLM (AI) used are the Google Gemini Pro and Flash models, which have excellent 'Vision' capabilities, and a generous free tier.

Archives NZ has released the register years they have digitised (1865-69, 1872, 1874 and 1880) under a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 license.

The Intention to Marry registers (up to 1925) are more than 100 years old, so their Crown Copyright has expired, putting them in the public domain. This also applies to any 'mechanical reproductions' (eg, pictures or photocopies) of their content without substantial alteration.

The transcribed records on this website are released under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal license, which allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, even for commercial purposes, while giving credit to the creator (NZ Intentions to Marry Project).